Identify a Policy and Evaluate Its Impacts on Your Practice, Reflecting on the Effect the Policy Has on Outcomes for Children and Young People.

‘Identify a policy and evaluate its impact on your practice, reflecting on the effect the policy has on outcomes for children and young people’

This essay will consider the policy of Inclusion, from a national and localised perspective, providing an appropriate understanding of policy and legislation, giving clear guidance of its evolution and relevance to practice. On researching policy and legislation through the decades there will be analysis of the way political and philosophical principles underpin contemporary social policy in our society, drawing on theory and practice to illustrate how social policy affects professional practice and outcomes for all children. There will be a critique of social policy initiatives that will illustrate different perspectives, whilst considering the effectiveness of contemporary social policies and their potential future challenges for the chosen sector. The word inclusion often has different meanings to different people; this causes confusion due to practitioners not understanding its correct meaning. It is important to give a clear definition of inclusion as it is often confused with the term integration. According to Rusteimer (2002) inclusive education can be defined as All children and young people – with and without disabilities or difficulties –learning together in ordinary settings. Similarities to this can be found in Chadha’s (2000) definition of inclusion Providing to all children (irrespective of the kind and degree of disability equitable opportunities, to receive effective education services with needed supplementary aids and support services in age appropriate classes (cited in Singhal 2005:335). It can be suggested that the two definitions propose the simplicity that providing suitable resources means that all children can learn side by side and this is inclusion. Disagreeing with this Nutbrown and Clough (2006:3) suggest that inclusion is A drive towards maximal participation in and minimal...